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Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been appointed at the acting president of the country, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana announced on Wednesday.
Colombo, July 13 (PTI): Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday fled to the Maldives from where he appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the acting President, escalating political crisis and triggering a fresh wave of protests in the country reeling under the worst financial crisis in decades. Rajapaksa, the 73-year-old leader who had promised to resign on Wednesday, appointed Prime Minister Wickremesinghe as the acting President, citing Article 37(1) of the Constitution that allows a premier to “discharge the powers, duties and functions of the office of president” when the president is ill or “absent” from the country. Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced that President Rajapaksa has appointed Wickremesinghe to act to perform his functions while he is abroad. Abeywardena also said that President Rajapaksa has informed him over telephone that he will resign today as promised. He said the vote for the new president will t
Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency after President Rajapaksa and his wife fled to the Maldives hours before he was due to resign. Protesters also stormed the prime minister's office, calling for his resignation.